Bruce Pearl talks facing Florida's Todd Golden, Colin Castleton
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The Gators lost a nail-biter Wednesday night in their SEC opener at Auburn, where Florida coach Todd Golden worked on Bruce Pearl’s staff for two seasons (2014-16).
Bruce’s son, Auburn assistant coach Steven Pearl, is even closer with Golden. They won gold together twice at the 2006 Maccabi Games and the 2009 Maccabiah Games before reuniting on Pearl’s staff at Auburn.
Golden and Pearl embraced prior to the game and shared another moment at midcourt after the back-and-forth contest.
“Going up against Todd was emotional for me. I was emotional seeing him before the game and I got emotional on the radio. I love Todd like a son,” Pearl said. “He came out here and put his faith in me and trust in me. He was engaged to be married and got married the first summer he was here. I saw him as a newlywed and his beautiful bride – then they had their first child here. He bought his first home here. I know his parents and his family.
“He’s Steven’s best friend for life, so I root for him. There’s absolutely no joy in beating him today at all. I’d have been upset if we lost because it was a game we had to have. Florida came in here, and I’m sure he went into his locker room and had to praise those guys for almost knocking off a nationally ranked team.”
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Pearl’s team was led by Johni Broome and Wendell Green Jr. with 14 points apiece, while Broome and Dylan Cardwell held Florida’s Colin Castleton to 6 points on 1-for-6 shooting. Castleton had 22 points and 10 rebounds at Auburn last season and then scored 19 in the Gators’ upset over the No. 2 Tigers in Gainesville.
“Look, Castleton is one of the best offensive players, best offensive centers in the league, he was first-team all-conference. Johni and Dylan won the matchup. Huge,” Pearl said. “Keep in mind, against the National Defensive Player of the Year (Walker Kessler), he (Castleton) scored pretty well. Obviously tonight, he didn’t against Johni and Dylan. I’m glad Johni took that personally. I’m glad he did. Players should, I love it.”
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